Train your brain!

Become happier and healthier through meditation

People of all ranks and classes try to escape the stress of present-day life. You yourself may have tried loosening up using Zen-techniques, aroma therapy or, for instance, by drawing mandalas. Many claim they feel healthier and happier thanks to these and other ways of relaxation and contemplation, but their biological mechanisms are as yet unresolved.

A well-known method used to reduce stress is meditation. It is likely that if you think of meditating, you imagine a bald-headed monk wearing an orange cloth muttering exotic mantras while sitting in lotus position. Of course this is a stereotypical image of meditation. Everyone, from teenage girl to important businessman, can meditate. You only need a little practice and a little patience.
 

Some sort of meditation

There are dozens of different types of meditation. Typically they involve turning your concentration inwards and repeating mantras, like in transcendental meditation. Its goal is to settle your awareness down. Less familiar but just as favorable are walking or moving meditation. Another example of active meditation is “Bellows Breath”, which requires you to breath fast and powerful continuously for several minutes¹. These types of active meditation transcend you in another way, through physical repetition.

As you see, meditating doesn’t necessarily mean sitting still, breathing deeply and thinking of nothing, which may be impossible to some. Personally, I think a great time for contemplation is when traveling. By bus, by train or by car: just let your thoughts flow along with the view.
 

Mind over matter

The origin of the word meditation emphasizes the benefits of it. According to James Gordon, who wrote the book “Manifesto for a New Medicine”, meditation shares it’s etymological roots with the word medicine². Still, however, until about 25 years ago, no one bothered to find out exactly what makes meditation healthful. Starting in the early 70′s, it gradually became a subject of interest among scientists. This was mainly because of Western consumers, who started spending more money on ‘alternative’ medicine, instead of seeing a conventional doctor. Today, many scientific studies support the fact that meditation affects your health, in a good way of course. For instance, it is shown that meditation strengthens your immune system, which is especially interesting for HIV-patients, and reduces pain². Also, you’re less likely to feel upset over criticism when you meditate on a regular basis. Even among prisoners the amount of violence decreases when meditating becomes part of their daily routine.
 

Your brain on meditation

Meditation is a typical mind-thing, so if you want to discover the mechanisms behind it, start your quest with the brain. Buddhist monk brains are of particular interest, since these monks (or the monk brains) are usually well-trained meditators. Scanning the brains of meditating monks gave neuroscientists more insight into the mechanisms involved in meditation. The research group of Antoine Lutz from the University of Wisconsin revealed that brain activity of Buddhist monks differs from normal brain activity³. The monks showed a higher percentage of brain activity normally seen during learning and memory tasks. This doesn’t mean that you’ll develop a brain like Einstein by meditating, but it’s a muscle definitely worth exercising.
 

References:

1)         Hauck DW. The Emerald Tablet – Alchemy for personal transformation. Penguin Group, New York (1999)

2)         Monk-Turner E. The benefits of mediation: experimental findings. The Social Science Journal 40 (2003) 465-470

3)         Lutz A, Greischar LL, Rawlings NB, Ricard M and Davidson RJ. Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice. PNAS Vol. 101 No. 46 (2004) 16369-16373